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HOW TODAY’S MANAGERS SHOULD HANDLE THE NEEDS OF THEIR ORGANIZATIONS
U ntil recently, operators presumed that requiring a degree in culinary arts or hospitality, combined with work experience with a company that offers similar services, would translate to hiring someone with the skills required for the job. As many of us have learned, that is not always the case. In fact, you might end up with someone who shows up with inconsistent or poor skill sets. Let’s face it, skill sets have nothing to do with attitude and a willingness to be a team player. What we have learned over the past few years is that most people look at foodservice and hospitality jobs as a dead end with no career advancement. We saw a mass exodus from the industry. Managers resigned or retired at an unprecedented rate, and hourly employees left because they felt underappreciated with no support from their bosses. The lesson learned is that leaders and managers need to hire for attitude and come up with ways to improve engagement and career development opportunities. But this will take a willingness to change how they view their frontline staff and embrace technology. In an article published in March 2022 by Jacquelyn Bulao for techjury.net, the growth of technology is simply mind- blowing. Globally, there are over 1.35 million tech start- up companies; internet adoption globally is at 59%; data processing capacity doubles every 18 months (yes, months, not years); and close to 5 billion people use the internet and cell phones. By 2025, 75 billion devices will connect to the internet. The foodservice industry has seen its share of technologies that have made food production easier, more consistent, and much safer. Just in the last few years we have seen temperature monitoring systems for refrigeration and other equipment. Electronic control panels have become common, many pieces have become ventless, energy saving equipment has become the norm, and let’s not forget all the technology used to build this equipment and the tools we use every single day. Technology will be the way we adapt to a smaller workforce and shifting demographics. Whether you embrace it today or put it off until tomorrow, there is no way staffing levels will ever support all the needs of a large foodservice operation without being tech forward. The lower staffing levels we see now will continue for many until they improve their culture and
embrace change. It is the adoption of technology that will make for a better work culture, improved employee engagement, and the ability to provide well-prepared food with great service to customers. ONLINE TRAINING WITH PINEAPPLE ACADEMY Knowledge is power, but the training practices in hospitality and foodservice are often outdated or have been reduced to the irreducible minimum. Many operations only focus on “regulatory compliance” and not the business of food and service. The good news is that online training has exploded in the last couple of years. There are many options available to train staff on subjects ranging from culinary arts to customer service to management skills. Training programs can be accessed from smartphones, tablets, and computers.
Pineapple Academy (www.pineappleacademy.com) is one of those new online training solutions that provides operators the tools to train frontline team members. Pineapple Academy focuses on the fundamentals by providing short task demonstration style videos of 5 minutes or less. New hires can be onboarded and given a training lineup that will make them job-ready faster and more consistently. The days of shadowing the most senior person on the team to learn on-the-job is old school. It is inconsistent and does not provide the training and knowledge required to make a new team member feel empowered and welcomed. Assigning a new hire their own tailored training lineup will give them the opportunity to start their new job with tools for success and give them a clear career path. All courses are delivered by industry experts. For more information on what courses are available and to view the platform, follow the link: my.pineappleacademy.com/signup/business n
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